They often get as rough a ride from books as they do from the world, but some writers, from Jane Austen to Sue Townsend, have given lone parents authentic life beyond the cliches
July 2021
‘You are the one spark in my life’: Laurie Lee’s loving letters to secret daughter
Newly discovered exchanges between the Cider with Rosie author and painter Yasmin David show their joy at finding one another
March 2021
The Guardian view on the 'festival of Brexit': judge it on its results
Editorial: Festival UK 2022 has announced its participants – and there’s no sign of tub-thumping jingoism
July 2020
Top 10s
Top 10 books about adventures
Further reading
Books to transport you: the best travellers' tales for troubled times
January 2020
Brief letters
Our honeymoon that never ended
Brief letters: Slad valley | Philip Larkin | The Bull, Ambridge | Boris Johnson | The 2020s | G2
December 2019
A winter walk in Laurie Lee’s Cotswolds
Twenty five years ago, the Cider With Rosie author talked to David Parkerabout his beloved Slad valley. This walk takes in his favourite views, his local pub and final resting place
November 2019
The Guardian Books podcast
'The past is amongst us. Taking notes': nature writing with Kathleen Jamie and Laurie Lee – books podcast
On this week’s show, Jamie talks about her new essay collection Surfacing and we hear a rare recording of the Cider with Rosie author
July 2019
Top 10s
Top 10 books about walking in Britain
Travelling on foot is a national obsession that has inspired a whole tradition of great writing, from Laurie Lee to Iain Sinclair
April 2018
Emma Smith obituary
Author who enjoyed a resurgence when her bestselling 1950 novel The Far Cry was republished more than 50 years later
February 2018
How I beat anorexia by savouring the lavish meals of literature
Laura Freeman had the eating disorder since her teens, but the enticing food conjured by Charles Dickens and Laurie Lee set her free
July 2017
From the Guardian archive
Rosy with cider: an interview with Laurie Lee - archive, 1977
4 July 1977: As the millionth paperback copy of Cider With Rosie is sold, Dennis Johnson goes to see its author, Laurie Lee, in the Cotswold village where the story originated
March 2017
Snooping around
Homes in beauty spots – in pictures
From Constable country to Laurie Lee’s Cotswold valley, these properties are as easy on the eye as their surroundings
January 2017
The happy list: readers’ responses
We asked you to tell us which cultural pick-me-ups are best at beating the blues. Here are 10 of your top joy-giving films, books and more
August 2016
The Little Library Café
Food in books: Eccles cakes from Cider with Rosie by Laurie Lee
While preparing for a trip to ‘Laurie Lee country’ – Gloucestershire – Kate Young bakes a batch of Eccles cakes, enjoyed by the author in his childhood
January 2016
A book to share
Your book-sharing stories: from a grandma’s precious gift to an online date gone wrong
Here are the titles our readers love to share at any opportunity – plus their best anecdotes around the act of giving and receiving books
November 2015
Books blog
Guardian readers' comfort library
Jane Austen rubs shoulders with Ernest Hemingway, Samuel Beckett sits next to Harry Potter in the great self-help archive assembled by our contributors
October 2015
Laurie Lee’s daughter on her discovery of his unseen essays: ‘I fought the tears’
Jessy Lee found the works in her father’s papers at the British Library – and now they will be published for the first time
September 2015
TV review
Cider With Rosie review: ‘it captures the poetry and the spirit of Laurie Lee’
Trailer watch
Samantha Morton in Cider With Rosie: 'It's the path of true love'
